Lesson on outhouses, and trip to Mexico

My two boys (7&4) are at the bodily function stage – where passing gas is an Olympic sport in our house! Recently we were able to go for a nature walk and we were all so glad to be able to get out of the house. I let the boys run wild to run some energy off, we looked at the different animal tracks in the dirt and mud to see if we could identify the animals they belonged to, and along the way came across an outhouse. My oldest had to go to the bathroom and ran directly to it with me and the younger one rushing to catch up because I wanted to make sure it WAS an outhouse and not just there as a decoration. It was, and my son did his business. However, the youngest one wasn’t completely sure what an outhouse was, so a lesson on the spot was taught. He looked at his brother and said, “Did you pee in there?” in which the older one proudly said, “Yep, sure did!” and went about his way looking at more animal tracks and trying to talk to ducks he saw in the little pond beside the outhouse while the youngest one was still curious. I asked him if he had to go potty and he looked at me like I was crazy. I finally told him, “Okay, well lets go see what we can find” – which then turned into said child getting upset because he wanted to stand directly over toilet seat and have me shine the light on my phone down there so he could see the poop….oh my…

The last couple weeks, when it is time for Social Studies/Geography, “W”, my oldest, will groan and say, “Are we done yet? This is so boring” before I even start. He enjoys school – both the boys do – “W” is in first grade and “G” is in preschool – both of them LOVE math, as well as reading, art and music. So I never hear complaining until this subject, and I started wondering how to make it not boring for them…and I am excited to say that they LOVED Geography today!
This past weekend, I visited some thrift shops to look for a vintage suitcase (kinda like the one pictured here.

I then traveled to JoAnn Fabrics and bought some scrapbook stickers with the country of Mexico written on them, a stamp of the world and an ink pad. I then went home and got to work. I then got online and found a passport template and printed it out, printed out a couple pics of my guys and put it together and put it in the suitcase along with the lesson I would be teaching them.
Today was the day – I told them after Math we would be going on a trip – “W” knew something was up when “G” brought his shoes to the table to put them on and I told him we were going on a pretend trip. I brought out the suitcase – the outside already decorated with travel stickers on one side, opened it and gave them their passports. They were excited to open them and actually see THEIR picture in them! I set up two of the dining room chairs side by side in the kitchen as our “airplane” and had then sit down and I played airport and airplane sound effects as they were sitting (Airport departure announcements, hustle and bustle of an airport) then found a short video of the emergency protocols the flight attendants give before the plane goes off – y’all – they were all eyes! They were fascinated! Then I played the sound effect of a plane taking off (after instructing them to buckle their seat belts.) Then I went into the role of flight attendant…welcoming them to their flight, asking them where they were going, getting them refreshments (popcorn and a drink), then in my role as flight attendant, started talking about Mexico and what I loved about it, how many times I had been there (I have never been to Mexico). After their refreshments were done, I told them to make sure they were buckled up, that we were getting ready to land. As they got up, I let one of them get the luggage and carry it to the gate (gate being the dining room) and then asked for their passports, which they were excited to give me. As soon as I stamped them, and they crossed over to the playroom, I had traditional Mexican music playing (thanks Alexa!) and welcomed them to Mexico! We tried to learn a couple traditional dances, which, again, they loved – then did a coloring sheet of maracas and watched a video on Mexico. All in all, it was a WIN!!!! They have asked when we are going on the next trip and I told them this week we are staying in Mexico before heading to some countries in Central America. As a matter of fact, both of them, at different times, came up to me to tell me thank you for taking them on a trip and that was the best time they had today. Just so thankful to God that He provided the ideas! I didn’t spend much either – the suitcase I bought at Salvation Army – it was on sale for .99 cents! The stickers, stamp, and ink pad costs around $14 so about $15 for multiple Geography lessons – thank you Jesus!

If you are interested in the pretend passports, check out this link.

Free Travel Printables For Kids: Pretend Passport